Chinese Export Silver Tuck Chang & Luen-Wo Teapot & Bowl

Hi,
Chinese export silver is not something I come across, so I'm hoping I'm reading the marks correctly.
#1 is marked Luen-Wo Shanghai 90. According to the 925 site this would be from the late 19th-early 20th century. What does the 90 mean? The design has pitting all over it, almost like little pin pricks, I imagine that would decrease the value.
#2 is marked Tuck Chang. Nice teapot in a stand, with a little burner. All 4 feet have little holes in them, wondering if this would have been attached to something else? According to the 925 site this would be from the late 19th-early 20th century.
Are these sterling silver?
Any info appreciated!
Mary

 

Wow, correct. Sterling silver. What a find! I'd go through an auction house for these if I were you.

 

Thanks moon! Yes, I was wondering if an auction house might be better. Ebay seems to be having too many problems - this Sunday I had 3 emails from people that were trying to bid but ebay told them I didn't ship to their location, they were in the USA, all the other bidders were in the States so I don't know what the problem was.

 

Lovely finds,especially that bowl WOW!

 

The '90' is an indicator that the silver fineness is at least 90% (900/1000) - it may well be .925 or higher though.

The holes in the feet of the hot water kettle might be one of two things, if they are solid, they may have been attached to a base as suggested, but strikes me as unlikely, suspect they might be hollow, and then they're probably vent holes - when hollow parts are soldered closed, if there's no place for the air to escape, the cooling process can cause a vacuum and the piece may cave in.

Nice pieces - I'm not seeing the pitting, where is it? Do you have the burner?

~Cheryl

 

Here's a very similar kettle, with added dragon decoration:

http://www.bidsquare.com/l/145/chin...ce-coffee-set-and-associated-hot-water-kettle

~Cheryl

 

I see the pin holes over the enameled flower. I have had items like cloisonne with those little pops.

 

Thanks Cheryl. Vent holes make sense rather than being attached to a base.
Yes, I have the burner. I see on ebay the same kettle that you posted, asking quite a bit but whether it will sell I don't know. This is rather plain compared to the ones with the dragon, hard to tell from the photos but it has almost a hammered finish on it.
Here is a close-up of the bowl with the pitting.

 

shiloh, pops is a good description! so would this be cloisonné?

 

here is a close-up of the teapot/kettle.

 

Hunh, must have been a popular basic design, here's another with added bamboo decoration, yet another maker's mark: http://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot/chinese-export-silver-water-kettle-306-c-ddba3629c5 The finish on yours is hammered, nicely done...

Shiloh's right, there's no real issue with the enameling, it's typical and I've seen much worse than yours - the technique is usually called 'open-work cloisonne', if you scroll down about halfway, this site shows some similar: http://chinese-export-silver.com/meta-museum-archive/meta-museum-chinese-export-silver-enamel-revival-phenomenon-中國出口銀器-開始轉寄郵件/ (site owner is 'the man' for Chinese Export silver).

~Cheryl

 

Very nice pieces, Cxgirl. I especially like the bowl with the cloisonne -- I can't see any problems with it.

 

CX,

I would just like to say congrats on your finds. Very nice!

I would also like to add that eBay would be a very good venue for both pieces. Please search completed listings for both makers and similar examples and you'll see what I mean ($$four-figures fetched$$). Auction houses (depending on who you choose) isn't always a good venue for such items due to their lack of marketing to Asian buyers. I have been selling "high ticket" Asian items on eBay for the past couple of years and trust me, it has been very pleasant and very, very profitable.

Whichever venue you do choose, I wish you much luck and many bids. Again, congrats!

 

thanks nuff! Not sure where they will go.

 

Not as much an issue with exposure as there is risk of getting scammed. I've never had a problem getting scammed by an auction house but have gotten scammed on items shipped internationally on Ebay more times than you would think. These are nice items....I know what I would do!

 

In my 10+ years experience of selling high-ticket items internationally on eBay, I have never ran across a single issue of scamming. I'm not implying there isn't any problems with scamming on eBay, but from my exp, I haven't seen it so far.

Can you please share with us the nature of these multitude of scams that you've come across?

In recent history (Aug, 2014) we sold 3 pieces of silver for approx $9K+. Each piece went to an overseas buyer with no issues. The only issue I have come across was not having enough of these high-ticket silver pieces to satisfy the demand from these buyers.

The same applies to ceramics, fine art, etc.. etc... being sold and shipped internationally. Again, no issues whatsoever other than the lack of inventory to satisfy their thirst for these higher-dollar products.

I'm sure their are a number of folks here who can share with you a horror story or two regarding selling on eBay, but in my experience, I really don't have any.

The only problems I can really think of is of my own fault. The failure to provide a meticulous condition report and/or description had paved the way for a partial-refund from buyers. But this had nothing to do with buyers (be they foreign or domestic) trying to pull a scam.....rather me not paying enough attention to that hairline crack or small rim chip is what caused the buyer to request such refunds.....and rightfully so. Again, this was my own failure and was written-off as the cost of doing business.

 

Well two that I've had in the past few months were:
1)claim for item not received, a WEEK after the item was shipped. Buyer won that item and I suppose they are also enjoying the item as well, since it probably arrived the week after that.
2)claiming the item had been broken and sending me an obviously and very badly photoshopped picture to "prove" it.
I actually think it's rather unusual of you to think that Ebay isn't a hotbed for issues like this. There is a very well-known and well-respected seller
(plcombs) of fine Asian pieces, the finest I have seen on Ebay by any seller, and he has a blog that devotes a large portion to the scams he has come across with international transactions.
It's not just me.

 

In my post above, I never once state that there isn't any issues of scamming, but rather, in my own experience(s) selling on eBay, I haven't come across these issues. Again, in my own experience. I'm sure there are many horror stories shared by members, but speaking from my own exp, I have none. I personally cannot judge a venue based on someone else's exp dealing with it, only my own. And that personal exp has been very pleasant and very, very profitable as stated.

As far as your two claims, from what you've stated above, it doesn't sound like scamming, but rather inexperience as a shipper/seller. No disrespect/offense.

Did you provide proper tracking info (not custom form numbers, but registered tracking info and/or signature confirmation)? If so, why or how was the claim awarded to the buyer?

Did you have proper insurance and/or request for the damaged item to be shipped back to you in order to provide a full refund for these damaged goods?

 

Yes, I did have tracking info! I couldn't get my money back because in order to do that, the buyer has to be compliant as far as answering questions to the post office, etc. It's just a mess; I'm disgusted with it. Far easier in my opinion to let an auction house vet the buyer and deal with all the hassles of selling internationally. That said I have also had plenty of good international transactions as well, but the bad apples spoil the bunch for me.

 

Independent transit insurance (for US based sellers) is cheap and effective. If $1 per $100 cover did not represent a fair assessment of the risk and a reasonable profit after costs, the premiums would be higher.

More than 3/4 of all the ebay items I sold went overseas, I never tracked anything (total waste of money if you have to pay for it as we do in Britain), many were reasonably high value, and reports of loss or damage were trivial, less than 1 per 500 items.

I always did my best to help my items arrive by describing them as nearly as possible to 'Utter Rubbish' and valuing them as 'Not worth stealing' which at least did no harm and may have helped.

One source of trouble unappreciated by US sellers is auto filled customs forms when printing labels. The last thing you want is an attractive and detailed description of the contents on the outside of the package.

Old Shoes trumps Manolo Blanik every time - never ever use brand names or mention precious metals or jewels. All jewellery is dress accessories, all gold Rolexes are Old Watches, all Georgian sterling is plated teapot, and so on and so on.

The only people anywhere with any real interest in customs forms are petty thieves in the handling chain.